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Why are 'people of God' fighting a bloody battle in Gaza? Ethics and Religion Talk

Mideast Israel Palestinians

A Palestinian walks by the rubble of houses, destroyed by Israeli strikes in the town of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. Israel and Hamas began observing a temporary cease-fire on Tuesday that sets the stage for talks in Egypt on a broader deal on the Gaza Strip, including a sustainable truce and the rebuilding of the battered, blockaded coastal territory.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
(Lefteris Pitarakis)

Do you see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a religious conflict? I ask not to make a point, but I really don't understand why people who both consider themselves 'people of God' can't seem to find common ground and share Israel?

I am returning to the question to give Aly a chance to respond to my answer, and also to give a Christian and a Unitarian response.

However, I also want to address several remarks that appeared in the comments. Several comments spoke of Zionists in terms that would have made the author of the anti-Semitic screed “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” Henry Ford, and Father Coughlin proud, claiming that Zionist own and control the media, and that “The Zionists in London, New York, and Washington send their ill-gotten gold to the death merchants to rain havoc on their enemies, using millions of their own people as meat shields for their dreams of empire and domination.” Such disgusting and hateful statements have no place in civil dialogue.

Doug Van Doren is the pastor of Plymouth United Church of Christ:

Any response to this complex issue is an over simplification, but it seems to me that the conflict is primarily a geopolitical one with a powerful overlay of religion and religious history. Like so many conflicts with religious labels, current and past, the primary issues are those of differences in history and ethnicity. However, religion is a terribly powerful factor that is all too easily exploited. Unfortunately, we tend to use those parts of our religion in such conflicts that we feel give us divine right or religious mandate rather than those parts that call us to make peace and see others as our neighbor.

Clearly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has deep religious roots based, for some, in Hebrew Scripture, in historic conflicts over the land and holy sites in the area, and certainly in the history of anti-Semitism, pogroms, and the horror of the holocaust. Thus, especially in this conflict, the “religious labels” are not simply indicating a belief system but rather a core identity. And, of course, for many people in the middle of the conflict, that religious label, for their entire lives, has identified the “enemy.”

As I said to begin, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is extremely complex, both religiously and geopolitically. But I think we sometimes hide behind the complexity. To whatever extent this is a religious conflict, ought not all involved use the best of their religious traditions to bring an end to it? Maybe if we start there, people who consider themselves people of God can find common ground.

Fred Wooden is the senior pastor of Fountain Street Church:

Religion is a guilty bystander in this relentless conflict. By 'bystander' I mean it is not the source or cause. In many ways, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a proxy for the legacy of the era of European Colonialism which not only imposed western rule over much of the region for generations but also exported anti-Judaism with it. Barnard Lewis wrote of this in his book "What Went Wrong." By guilty, I mean that some people have used religion to leverage their side in the conflict, to whip up emotions and excuse actions and more. For each, survival and identity are at stake, and for that reason a 'rational solution' is very hard. Can it happen? I believe so, in part because if I and you and everyone else loses that hope the future will be very bleak indeed.

Aly Mageed of the Islamic Mosque and Religious Institute of Grand Rapids responds to my suggestion that the solution to the conflict ultimately lies in a two state solution:

The only chance for a Two State solution to succeed would follow a full Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, giving the Palestinians a mere 20% of their original land. The Arab initiative of 2002 and its re-endorsement in the 2007 Arab Summit is an ideal basis for that.

However, needless to say that agreeing to dismantling the countless settlements on the west bank and evacuating half a million settlers would be a true miracle and a sure sign from God that we are finally on the right track for peace!

My personal belief: The One State solution is what the Messiah Jesus PBUH will implement upon his second coming (if you are a Christian or a Muslim) or his first coming (if you are a Jew). He will then show us how beautiful and peaceful life on earth could have been had we all followed God’s true commands of absolute Justice and full equality for all! Regrettably, by that time though, many more will die unjustly and unnecessarily on all sides.